SuzySushi

Mmmmmnnnn... I could do with some of those now! I'm curious as to why the wrappers are so yellow. Which brand & type did you use? Is it an egg dough, or does it use food coloring?

Jason, those are really mouthwatering!!!

Smallworld, Just so you know you're not crazy, I know exactly what you mean. I had a package of shiso like that the other day. It had a sharpness and you could really taste its relationship to mint. I have no idea as to why -- maybe it's the individual plant, or something in the soil where it grew.

Tepee, Go ahead and make the cake. Even health food stores that carry only vegetarian products sell "animal crackers." Your daughter is way old enough to distinguish between a real animal and a representation of one. It won't turn her into an animal-abuser.

You mean Pineapple Buns? I have several recipes but have never tried baking them...

I pretend to be a tourist. Seriously, I've never had any trouble taking notes in restaurants. From my journalism days, I often did interviews over lunch. I simply used a small leather memo holder and wrote small. This assumes I was dining with someone else. By myself, I'd just pretend I was making notes to myself about something else. No one ever asked or looked askance. Photos? I didn't really do those regularly until recently, now that I have a digital camera, but even in the "old days," when traveling, I'd photograph particularly impressive dishes. (No flash.) Again, never any problem. Tourists do that all the time.

Congratulations, and welcome to eGullet! Great job, especially for a "first attempt"! Your maki look very professional.

Willow bark? Tell me more -- I never heard of using this as a food ingredient. ← Oops sorry, I used licorice or sweet root. I was told that it was willow bark at the chinese herbalist but on the package its said licorice, hence the misunderstanding. I only knew the chinese name when I was trying to buy it "gan tsao". Willow bark can be used as an herb... it has compound called salicin which is like aspirin. ← That's what I was thinking!

I'd just substitute light soy sauce, or soy sauce diluted with a little water + salt to taste. Worcestershire sauce does NOT resemble the taste of fish sauce and would throw the flavor of the dish, IMO. Can you find kosher/parve anchovy paste? If so, add a little dab of that along with the soy sauce.

Willow bark? Tell me more -- I never heard of using this as a food ingredient.

A friend whose husband is from Central America says they taste like chicken!

Thanks! Tekkamaki means a tuna roll. It's the same tuna as maguro. I buy my fish at a Japanese market where it's pre-cut into slabs marked "sashimi" (a different quality & cut than tuna steaks meant for grilling). I look for fish that looks & feels fresh (it's usually prepackaged, but it should look shiny and feel firm, with no weeping of liquid). Is there an Asian market near you that sells fresh fish? Or a fish market with a knowledgeable staff? You should tell the purveyor if you're planning to eat the fish raw. A reputable store will point you in the right direction.

Sushi! Tekkamaki and hamachi sashimi, garnished with shiso leaves and fukujinzuke (storebought Japanese pickles).

Ellen -- do you make your own char siu from scratch? Recipe, please!

Refrigeration and frozen food technology which, yes, made it possible to keep foods longer safely. The microwave oven, which revolutionized Americans' perceptions of how much time is needed to cook a meal.

I like Hawaiian sweet bread as-is, or with sweet butter or jam. It's great for French toast, too. My daughter loves Virginia ham sandwiches on buttered sweet bread -- we even served them, cut into fancy shapes, at her birthday pool party.

When we were traveling in France, we took our daughter -- then 3-1/2 -- everywhere we went, including to cathedrals, chateaux, and restaurants. She was generally well behaved. In the couple of instances (and there were literally only two) where she wasn't (because she was overtired), we immediately whisked her out of the restaurant and returned only when she calmed down. She was welcomed or at last tolerated everywhere, and sometimes even got a "special" meal (e.g., an entree prepared without sauce) -- I don't recall ever seeing a "kids' menu" in France. I never saw children misbehaving in any restaurants -- but I did see one boy go into a full-blown kicking-and-screaming-on-the-floor tantrum in the middle of a bookstore as his mother stool by helplessly. Other shoppers walked around him shaking their heads.

I've never been a big soda drinker, but I'll be interested to try it since aspartame makes me queasy.

These do sound good! I love salmon almost any way -- "plain" grilled, marinated, topped with sauce... Some of my inventions/adaptations are: Salmon topped with blue cheese. Broil/grill or microwave salmon fillets until not quite done. Sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese and finish cooking util blue cheese begins to melt. Salmon with green sauce. Cook salmon your favorite way. Serve hot, with a cold sauce made from 1/2 package baby spinach leaves, 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves & 1 or 2 scallions minced in a food processor, 3/4 cup plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, and salt & pepper to taste. Salmon topped with a sauce made from chopped shiitake mushrooms sauteed with garlic and bacon, then add a little oyster sauce.

What a great idea! I would've baked it though, rather than grilled it. (Maybe hit the grill for a few moments when it's almost done, just to produce the desired grill marks.) What was your recipe for the "creamy spinach"? BTW, Costco sells its salmon filleted and skinned. (I usually buy salmon at a Japanese market, though, where it's a higher quality "wilder" tasting fish.)

True tale: Some years ago, when I was visiting a friend in the Bay area, we stopped at what was then the largest Safeway market for some late-night shopping. A sign in the parking lot read "Cars left overnight will be towed." Since the Supermarket was in the middle of nowhere, I was puzzled. Who would leave their car there overnight? My friend patiently explained, "People come in two cars. They leave in one."

A bottle of pomegranate molasses from Lebanon. I added a little to a stir-fry the other week because I didn't have any tamarind concentrate, and boy was that good!

The restaurant restroom that's impressed me most is alo at Madonna Inn... but not the famous men's room. It's the ladies' room by their cafe. Not only did it have a separate children's toilet stall, but there was a child's level porcelain washbasin in the line-up of sinks, complete with floral decals and a gilt faucet in the shape of a duck. My young daughter didn't want to leave!!!

Wow! I'm really impressed by your perseverance! I've been too flummoxed by others' failures so far to try my hand at the pastry (I'm not known for my delicate touch with pie crusts... oh, would I have gotten lessons from my grandma!), but Rhoda Yee's recipe for custard (which Tepee used) sounds like the right proportions to me.

Grilled salmon with dill. Beet risotto served over sauteed beet greens. My husband, who is far more poetic than I am, commented, "A marvelous counterpoint between the sweetness of the beet risotto and the bitterness of the beet greens, like playing tennis with your taste buds."